News Releases for August 2003
August 29, 2003
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Hoeven Commends U.S. Commerce Department Ruling On CWB
BISMARCK, N.D. - Gov. John Hoeven today commended the U.S. Department of Commerce’s final determination in the antidumping and countervailing duty investigations against Canadian wheat imports. The Governor called it a good next-step in addressing the trade monopoly of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB). The determination comes in response to a petition filed by North Dakota Wheat Commission and paid for by farmers through their wheat check-off.
Hoeven has pressed the administration hard on wheat trade issues, including earlier this month, when Hoeven coordinated a letter signed by three other Midwestern governors to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Donald L. Evans pressing him to be firm in the department’s determination of the duty levels for dumping and unfair government subsidization by the CWB.
Today’s ruling imposes a combined duty of 14.16 percent on imports of hard red spring wheat and 13.55 percent on imports of durum wheat. At current price levels, the duty is equivalent to about 50 cents per bushel.
“We commend the Department of Commerce and this administration for imposing these aggressive import tariffs as one more step in the right direction,” Hoeven said. “Until the CWB adopts a policy of transparent pricing and competitive trade, we will push to ensure that these measures remain in place, enabling our farmers to compete in a fair wheat marketplace.”
Hoeven will testify next Thursday in Washington, D.C., at a U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) hearing, where he will give evidence that Canada’s government subsidies and dumping have injured the U.S. hard red spring and durum wheat industries.
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